Fodder
Fodders are a Necromorph form encountered during the outbreaks on the New Horizons Lunar Colony and Tau Volantis. They are introduced and encountered throughout the events of Dead Space 3. Overview The Fodder uses a rather insidious disguise in which they retain their hosts' clothing and overall silhouette, presumably allowing them to fool potential victims. The most immediately obvious change to their appearance is their oozing eyes and mouth that emanates a ghastly yellow light (similar to the hallucination Nicole from Dead Space 2). When the Necromorph is destroyed, the glow stops. Unlike all other Necromorph strains, which rely on their mutated limbs and abilities to murder their prey, Fodders attack their victims using a variety of melee weapons, including picks, ice axes, hatchets, bone saws, pipe wrenches, crowbars, and police batons. While a Fodder's body has almost no modifications to it, compared to a standard Necromorph, it possesses the unique ability to trigger further mutations on the fly; dismembering certain parts of their bodies can trigger horrifying transformations. When the upper body receives significant damage, the torso falls off, revealing three pronged tentacles growing out of the lower body. Upon dismembering their legs, projectile-shooting appendages will sprout from the abdominal area for defense and also help with locomotion. Rarely will this ever happen, but if both the torso and the leg have been shot off, then instead of dying, the Fodder will sprout one more tentacle and rapidly crawls towards Isaac like an arachnid. Variants Fodders appear to have multiple variants based on the available hosts. The Fodders' weapons also change depending on the host. S.C.A.F. Pilot These Fodders are the very first Necromorphs encountered in Dead Space 3. They carry both hatchets for weapons. The face of the Fodder is completely ripped with the muscle visible. They appear to be wearing some sort of a green S.C.A.F. pilot uniform which includes a shirt, trousers, boots and a hat. EarthGov Officer These Fodders are transformed versions of EarthGov soldiers. They carry two retractable batons as well as retaining their hosts' armor. The helmet appears to have been broken down, exposing the face. The nose is gone, and the mouth area is damaged. The chest has been ripped open with some damage on the feet and arms. S.C.A.F. Crew Member Encountered only on the ships in the Flotilla, these mummified variants are all that's left of the crew of the fleet orbiting Tau Volantis . They wear faded green uniforms with the S.C.A.F logo on the left breast and shoulder area and they typically carry a pair of axes for weapons. S.C.A.F. Snow Scout This particular variant of Fodder appears as soon as Isaac and Ellie's crew arrive on Tau Volantis. They are the transformed corpses of the former S.C.A.F. scouts, many of which are found all around the snowy terrain of the planet. They retain all of their climbing gear, heavy snow suits, and carry ice axes as their weapons. They are first encountered when Isaac and Carver are separated and search for Ellie ,Santos, Buckell and Norton . They tend to hide under the snow, but their ripples can be seen as they lurk toward Isaac and Carver . Unitologist Soldier This variant is created from the corpses of The Circle Unitologists after they are taken over by the Swarm . They retain their RIGs, but they discard their guns in favor of ice picks. S.C.A.F. Scientist This variant is encountered in the labs of the S.C.A.F. mountain peak base. They wear heavy blue coats with hoods and gas masks and tend to carry bone saws. Enhanced Fodder The enhanced variant of a Fodder is created from the corpses of S.C.A.F. soldiers that once wore a Hostile Environment Suit before they died and then were seemingly left that way for a long time before their corpses were transformed into a more powerful version of this particular Necromorph. Their bodies ooze a green slime that seeps through their armor and they carry heavy pipe wrenches. They first appear in the S.C.A.F Laboratory on top of the mountain peak of the Alien Machine. Strategy *Due to the Fodder's ability to split in half, it is recommended to aim for the legs first when equipped with a heavy damaging weapon, since this will kill the Fodder within one or two shots. *Blowing off a Fodder's arm then severing a leg will kill it without much trouble. *Fodders are extremely resilient to TK impalements from their own tools, so it's not recommended to throw a tool at one as it leaves the player open to other attackers while not being able to neutralize the Fodder and may even cause it to split. *A single Fodder shouldn't really be an issue for the player, even after splitting, but when there are a group of them, one can go from a simple situation to a rather sticky one with them attacking you from close and distant ranges. Fodders can be very ruthless and brutal when attacking in numbers so stasis could be recommended when dealing with groups of them. *If there are other types of Necromorph in an area, a weapon can be picked off a Fodder and used as a TK projectile. *Stasis and melee attacks are an effective combination when facing a weakened Fodder. *Use a Force Gun (Heavy frame + Plasma core + default tip/ Mk 2 conic dispersal) while they are sprinting at you to launch them backwards, and while they recover from their fall, shoot them with a chain lightning gun (Heavy Frame + Tesla core + diffraction torus) upgraded with damage circuits. Normal Fodders die in one hit, even to the body, and enhanced Fodders die in one hit to the limbs or two hits to the body at impossible difficulty. The strategy works brilliantly when there are multiple Fodders to kill; just make sure that the Fodders are on the ground and not up and running while aiming with the chain lightning. It is recommended to use a stasis coating with the weapon, as this tremendously slows down Fodders via the chain lightning gun should you fail to kill it in one hit , since the chain lightning weapon is very slow but extremely powerful. *The Force Gun and Military Engine are great for mowing down large groups of them. *A decently upgraded Chain Lightning Gun (Heavy Frame + Tesla Core + Diffraction Torus) will instantly kill any Fodder type, even Enhanced ones, in a single hit to the body on all but the highest difficulty settings. The Fodder will break apart at the waist but will not transform, simply dropping dead on the spot while the chain lightning effect already deals damage to other nearby hostiles. With some clip upgrades installed, a Chain Lightning Gun can hold up to 9 shots per clip and is therefore easily capable of clearing an entire wave of Fodders in a matter of seconds without any trouble. *Weapons with Acid or Fire attachments can dismember one in seconds. *Line Gun - type weapons will quickly finish them off if their tentacles are exposed. *A Rip-Core, especially an upgraded one, usually defeats them with little difficulty. *Slasher blades will cut them in half instantly on Normal difficulty. *A single Shotgun blast will kill a Fodder instantly without allowing it to mutate. Enhanced Fodders are much tougher and can withstand multiple Shotgun blasts even if the weapon has full damage, regardless of the difficulty level. *A Military Engine with a Directed Suspension Field (a.k.a. Sub-Machine Gun tip) will make short work of any Fodder coming your way (tested on Hard difficulty, 2-5 bursts with no upgraded parts and circuits). Add a Flame Glaze or Acid Bath attachment to amplify the effectiveness. *The Anchored Bolas (Tesla Core + Directed Suspension Field) or the shock from an Electrocution Module will kill Fodders without causing them to transform. Similarly, any weapon that can remove both legs at the same time (e.g. Shotgun, Line Gun/Bolas Gun variants, Plasma Cutter variants) can also kill them without triggering their transformation. *A Seeker Rifle (military engine with sniper rifle barrel) that is upgraded to max damage can easily kill most Fodders with a single torso shot: note: you should attach a secondary weapon to the Seeker rifle due to its low ammo capacity and fire rate. *The most effective way for killing Enhanced Fodders (or any other Necromorph) is a MK V Seeker Rifle on top with a MK V Force Gun at the bottom on a S.C.A.F Frame and MK V Stasis coating with MK V Stasis Amplifier as attachments.While the Force gun pushes back groups of them, it takes 2 shots to the body to take them down.Being fast is critical because after one high damaging shot, Fodders can quickly mutate themselves into horrific forms. Trivia *The Fodder is based on a very early concept of Necromorphs, wherein an octopus-like parasite wore a corpse like a suit. Upon being dismembered, the parasite would emerge as a mass of flailing tendrils in search of its lost limb. While this concept for necromorphs was completely scrapped, it was eventually reintroduced as The Fodder. *If one manages to shoot off an arm and wait, it will transform it's spine into 3 tentacles that sprout from the lower abdomen and try to stab you with them . After that, if you shoot off a leg, it will crawl at you like a spider. Or, if you shoot off both legs first, it will transform into a scorpion variant, allowing the Necromorph to shoot at you from a distance. *This Necromorph has the most physical transformations once the Necromorph gets dismembered. *The Fodder is the first Necromorph encountered in Dead Space 3. *When the corpse of a Circle member is reanimated into a Fodder, it discards its former firearm (if any) and proceeds to pull out a pair of ice axes. **How and from where did the newly-formed Fodder manages to procure said tools are unclear, as Circle members does not possess hand tools like the ones used by Fodders. This is likely a developer oversight. *Fodders are the first Necromorphs seen to use human weapons and tools. This indicates that either they are evolving and becoming more intelligent, due to their ability to arm themselves or holster their weapons at any moment of need, or the tools froze in their hands when they died during rigor mortis. The latter might not be the case, however, as when they are introduced in Dead Space 3, one of them picks up a hatchet after it tosses the weapon into one of its victims. *Fodders use a variety of weapons along with ice axes, including hatchets, crowbars, police batons, bone saws and large pipe wrenches, as seen in Chapter 1 of Dead Space 3. *While explicitly stated in the description, kills with ANY Fodder weapon (crowbar, wrenches, ice axes, etc.) will count toward achievement progress. *The Fodder can be compared to an alien creature from John Carpenter's The Thing, due to the fact that it somewhat resembles a still living human, until it manifests inhuman appendages for offensive or defensive purposes, and the Fodder is inhumanly resistant to damage. Additionally, its winter gear and clothing is very similar to the scientists from the film and its arctic setting. *The Fodders encountered in the Prologue do not sprout tentacles from their abdomen or their legs when dismembered. *Like the Slasher and some other Necromorphs, the Fodder also has an Enhanced form which looks more muscular, has a green pus oozing out of its body and onto its clothes and is more resistant to damage than the regular form. *The Fodder's RIG has a small red bar at the bottom which is odd given all other infected RIGs are dead (same applies to some corpses). *When Isaac ascends the cliffs of Tau Volantis, a Fodder can be heard then seen using it's own ice axes to smash into the ice in a snow cavern in an effort to free itself after a boulder landed on its foot. *This is the only Necromorph Isaac turns into should he fail the button sequence with a Swarm. *When Fodders lose their upper bodies, their legs walk backwards. *The Fodder's glowing eyes and mouth is similar to the hallucination of Nicole in the previous games. Death Scene *The Fodder will grab onto Isaac, at which point if he doesn't escape the Fodder will slice off his arm and proceed to disembowel him. **If Isaac succeeds, he will push the Fodder down and decapitate it with his foot. This does not guarantee a kill, however. **While the death scene does introduce a first person perspective of the Fodder killing the player, should it occur with a wall or other obstruction directly behind them, the player's corpse will look as though the final blow has been dealt already. *If Isaac is low on health, the Fodder will sever Isaac's arm. *If Isaac is low on health and is hit by the tentacles of the Fodder, it will split him apart. File:Dead Space 3 - Waster Death|Fodder Death (Tim Caufman) Appearances * Dead Space 3 * Dead Space 3: Awakened Gallery Fodder concept.jpg|Snow suit Fodder concept art as seen in the "Art of Dead Space 3" book File:DS3 screenshot Fodder 01.jpg|A Fodder sneaking behind Isaac ds3 attack fodder.png|A Fodder preparing to strike ds3fodder.png|A Fodder after one of its legs has been cut off. 622379_10151022166331659_1020796874_o.jpg|A Fodder approaching Isaac from behind Issac arm cut off by fodder JPG.JPG|A Fodder killing Isaac in a new Dead Space 3 demo Fodder attacking issac .JPG|Isaac in a quicktime event with a Fodder dead-space-3ice-demo01.jpg|Isaac encountering a arctic S.C.A.F. Fodder ImagesCAM7BVF8.jpg|A Fodder created from an EarthGov soldier waster3.jpg|A S.C.A.F. crew member Fodder the-art-of-dead-space-2.jpg|Enhanced Fodder of a S.C.A.F. unit concept art albeit not darkened. DS3_Waster-01.jpg|Transformed concepts DS3_Waster-02.jpg|Concept art DS3_Waster-06.jpg|Concept art of the Fodder's upper tentacle form DS3_Waster-07.jpg|Concept art of the Fodder's lower tentacle form Fodder research hub ds3 by luxox18-d6rhgws.jpg|S.C.A.F Scientist Fodder render fodder earthgov by luxox18-d6rdovh.jpg|Earthgov Fodder render Fodder snow ds3 by luxox18-d6rhh3o.jpg|S.C.A.F Snow Scout Fodder render fodder_by_luxox18-d6ru125.jpg|S.C.A.F Navy Personnel Fodder render Legionary Fodder ds3 by luxox18-d6rytgu.jpg|S.C.A.F Legionary Fodder render legionary_elite__ds3__by_luxox18-d6rdojn.jpg|Enhanced Fodder render unitologist-zombie-3d-model_0_4890.jpg|Circle Unitologist Fodder Render Videos